Most time wasted job hunting goes into listings that were never real roles. Eight checks, about a minute, and you can tell.
1. Is the company named?
A real posting names the employer. “A leading MNC”, “a fast-growing startup”, “our client” means a recruiter, and often means no specific role exists — they are collecting CVs to have a database.
Not always fraud. Almost always a waste of your hour.
2. Is there a salary range?
Serious employers increasingly publish one. “Salary: best in industry” or “as per market standards” tells you nothing, and is a small signal that the posting was written carelessly or deliberately vaguely.
3. Does it appear on the company’s own careers page?
The strongest check available, and it takes twenty seconds. Search the company name plus “careers”, find the openings page, look for the role.
If a job board lists it and the company does not, something is off — an outdated repost, a recruiter fishing, or an impersonation.
4. Is the contact email on the company’s domain?
careers@company.com is a company. company.hr.recruit@gmail.com is not, regardless of how well the rest reads.
5. Does the recruiter exist?
Find them on LinkedIn. A real HR person has a history: former roles, colleagues at the same firm, posts over time.
A profile created two months ago, with a stock photograph and eleven connections, is not a recruiter.
6. Is the process too fast?
An offer without a proper interview is not a compliment. Real hiring involves at least one substantive conversation and usually a task or test.
If you are offered a role after a five-minute WhatsApp chat, the thing being sold is what comes next — a fee, your documents, or your bank account.
7. Is money mentioned in any direction other than towards you?
Registration fee, security deposit, training fee, equipment deposit, ID card charge. Any of these ends the conversation. No exceptions, no matter how plausible the reason.
8. What documents are being asked for, and when?
Before a signed offer, an employer needs your CV and your contact details. That is all.
Social Security number, driver’s licence, bank details, cancelled cheque and a photograph come after you have a written offer from a company you have verified. Sent earlier, they are a complete identity kit, and identity theft is what some of these listings are actually for.
The 60-second routine
- Company named? → search it
- On its own careers page? → search “company careers”
- Recruiter real? → LinkedIn
- Email domain matches? → look at the address
- Any money requested? → stop if yes
Four searches. It will save you more time than any CV formatting advice, and occasionally rather more than time.